I haven’t been back to Naperville since I last attended a Braidwood collaboration meeting, a few months before the project was canceled by the Department of Energy without peer review. Yeah, I’m still harping on that, but it’s a point worth making (over and over). I’m here now to present […]
Life
481 posts
Jodi and I have been in Wisconsin for a day, marking the second half of our trip to the Midwest. We’re leaving Park Falls tomorrow for Osh Kosh, then on to Madison on Tuesday and Wednesday. I sat outside today, working on the PC I built for my in-laws using […]
We’re in the final stages of packing and cleaning before we get into the car, head south (quick lunch in Virginia, then coffee in Duluth), and go to Jodi’s parents’ house. Goodbye, Soudan!
One of the many reasons I am a physicist is the influence of my father. I had previously commented on the role my mother’s father, “pop-pop”, played on my choice to pursue science as part of my life. However, the role my father played in engaging me in challenging questions, […]
I think that much of the public forgets that scientists, including physicists, are people, too. Partly, this is because of the myth of the scientist – the recluse, the weirdo, the hubris. Partly, this is because often the most outspoken scientists are, indeed, the reclusive, weirdo, snobs. It’s the greater […]
We closed the trip into the mine yesterday the way that they close it every day: rush to get to the elevator before final call. The 8-minute announcement sounded as the last CDMS people hurried out of electronics rooms and clean rooms, gathered their belonging, and collected at the exit. […]
My “day off” in the mine has been anything but. Well, to be fair, I volunteered. I had planned to spend the day catching up on news, listening to some statistics lectures from SLAC [SLUOStats], and generally take photos of all the cool stuff down here in the Soudan Mine […]
I’m scheduled to give the “wine and cheese” seminar at “Fermilab”:http://www.fnal.gov on August 25, so part of my vacation has to be spent writing slides for the talk. I’m planning to give the audience a promenade through recent results using searches for leptonic decays of heavy mesons. BaBar is what […]
I am a huge fan of the Star Wars series. Even despite the rather poor quality of the prequels, I was engaged by the political and mythological exposition in the three movies. I delight in the mythology of the series, drawn from major world mythologies in human history. A lot […]
The next day was worse. Here we go! August 4, 2006 – 7 am, Moscow Time I couldn’t sleep past 7, a disease I acquired in Moscow. International travel always does that to me. I got up, showered and repacked, and then had a delicious breakfast downstairs in the hotel. […]
My time in Moscow was excellent. Getting out – that was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. Let me break this down for you. August 3, 2006 9:30 am I arrive at Sheremetvo-2 airport in a car co-hired by myself and two colleagues from England. We part […]
Our trip to Soudan began in San Francisco, hours after the TSA changed the carry-on rules for domestic and international flights. The arrest of 21 (now 24) suspects in and around London, England ignited a knee-jerk blanket ban on all liquids and gels on flights. People who didn’t wake up […]